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Writing Excuses Transcripts
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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Writing Excuses Transcripts" journal:[<< Previous 10 entries]
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02:12 pm
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Writing Excuses 7.21: Project in Depth -- Force Multiplication
Writing Excuses 7.21: Project in Depth -- Force Multiplication
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/05/20/writing-excuses-7-21-project-in-depth-force-multiplication/
Key Points: Why are you telling this story? How do you pick the characters? How do your characters solve problems? How do you choose the setting? How do you name things? How do you balance exploring characters and plot? How do you make it interesting? How does this hurt people? Who gets hurt? Why? How do they respond?
( Answers! )
[Brandon] All right. Your writing prompt this week is actually to do this with your own work. Have your friends sit down and interview you about something you're working on and about your process. Hopefully you will become more conscious of how you approach your writing. Which is one of our big goals as Writing Excuses podcasters, is to get you to think about that. All right? So, this has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
Current Mood: you know
Tags: characters, interesting, plot, problems, settings
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01:50 pm
[mbarker]
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Writing Excuses 7.20: Cathartic Horror
Writing Excuses 7.20: Cathartic Horror
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/05/13/writing-excuses-7-20-cathartic-horror/
Key Points: Horror can help you get through hard times in your life because no matter what, your life is better than what happens in that book. Reading helps prepare us to better handle stress and problems in real life. Beware of the didactic, but be aware that horror stories are not about the horror, they are about how people react to the horror. Look for the human story behind the horror dressing. "The core story is what's happening to the people" -- Brandon. Look at what scares you the most, figure out why it is so scary, face the things that make you tick, and then you can write a really scary book. Create the sense that anything could be lost.
( In the shadows... )
[Brandon] We're out of time. This podcast has been wonderful. Thank you both. I think I'm going to make our writing prompt the fairytale that is unadaptable. [Laughter] About the woman who starts on fire by getting too close to the fire. Dan?
[Dan] The modern retelling of the old lady who gets lit on fire and dies. Okay.
[Brandon] Yeah. Modern retelling of the old lady who gets lit on fire. Go look up that Grimm fairytale. [Laughter] Thank you guys all for listening. Thank you, audience, for listening through two hours of Writing Excuses. [Applause] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
Current Mood: trembling
Tags: catharsis, characters, didactic, dressing, horror, lesson
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02:32 pm
[mbarker]
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Writing Excuses 7.19: Q & A at UVU
Writing Excuses 7.19: Q & A at UVU
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/05/06/writing-excuses-7-19-qa-at-uvu/
Key Points:
Q: Why do books in a series become different as they go along?
A: Characters, stories, and stakes change. The writer grows.
Q: How do you approach the paragraph?
A: Each paragraph has a mini-arc, beginning, middle, end. Use topic sentences.
Q: When do you start thinking about a prequel?
A: When the backstory deserves it. But beginning writers should stick to in-late, out-early.
Q: How do you plot?
A: [James] Premise, brainstorming major events, major plot twists, and then I get so excited that I start writing. [Brandon] I write a little bit. Something sparks, is exciting, and I write that scene. Then I look at where do I go from this, what is a great ending, what's exciting about it, and work backwards to the start.
Q: How do you craft endings that are highly satisfying and leave the reader wanting more?
A: Answer all the questions set up in the beginning, then raise a new question. People live before and after the story -- point to that.
Q: How do you keep a really compelling and convincing villain from taking over the book?
A: Make the hero more proactive. Make sure the hero has a great scheme to achieve something awesome, so they are doing things, not just waiting to respond to the villain.
( The details... )
[James] Okay. One day, you have a bunch of crazy people come to your house and kidnap you, and put you at a place called... It's an asylum for the criminally sane. [Laughter]
( cutting out )
Current Mood: sniffles
Tags: endings, paragraph, plot, prequel, series, villian
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03:20 pm
[mbarker]
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Writing Excuses 7.18: Discovering Your Voice
Writing Excuses 7.18: Discovering Your Voice
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/04/29/writing-excuses-7-18-discovering-your-voice/
Key Points: Be authentic. Don't try to impress other people. Don't overwork it. Voice develops naturally. Give yourself the freedom to write what you want. Learn the techniques and get out of the way to let the art happen. Look for the cookie that can only be baked in your brain. Nurture your voice -- find what you love, and go with it. The narrative voice of a book or series isn't the author's voice.
( Diction, Pronunciation, and other vocal tricks? )
[Brandon] Why don't we make that our writing prompt? I want you guys to try that. Find a writing buddy and swap stories halfway through. James, I want to give you a special thank you for being on the podcast and for sharing so many stories with us. We're going to have to end right now, but this has been Writing Excuses. Thank you guys so much. You're out of excuses, now go write.
[Applause!]
Current Mood: pins-and-needles
Tags: authentic, cookie, technique, voice
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02:35 pm
[mbarker]
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Writing Excuses 7.17: Guns and Fiction
Writing Excuses 7.17: Guns and Fiction
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/04/22/writing-excuses-7-17-guns-and-fiction/
Key Points: If you want to write about guns, do your research. Think about recoil, heat, noise, smoke. Ammo! Guns do not jam just to cause hand-to-hand combat. Use the right gun for the period. Consider hearing damage! Accuracy can help you create dramatic tension.
( Ka-boom! )
[Brandon] All right. Howard, you've got a writing prompt for us?
[Howard] Okay. Writing prompt. Give us a character who after reading one novel goes out and procures a grenade launcher.
[Brandon] All right. This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
Current Mood: uncocked
Tags: accuracy, guns, research
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11:15 am
[mbarker]
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Writing Excuses 7.16: Continuing with Mary's Outline
Writing Excuses 7.16: Continuing with Mary's Outline
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/04/15/writing-excuses-7-16-continuing-with-marys-outline/
Key points: watch for decision points, turning points. Build your themes. Use something three times before it becomes pivotal. A low point may signal the transition from Act II to Act III. Also incapacitation of the mentor. Be careful of resolving conflicts too easily or quickly, give them depth and time to be interesting. Be wary of inactive, uninvolved characters -- make them active, get them personally involved.
( Running overtime with lots of words! )
[Howard] Since it's likely that I'm not going to get exactly what I want from Mary, give us a monkey, a bronze pot, a baby, and pizza in completely different situations than what we've just heard.
[Brandon] All right. This has been Writing Excuses.
Current Mood: whimsical
Tags: act ii, act iii, active, conflicts, decision ponts, involvement, low point, mentor, themes, turning points
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02:08 pm
[mbarker]
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Writing Excuses 7.15: Editing Mary's Outline
Writing Excuses 7.15: Editing Mary's Outline
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/04/08/writing-excuses-7-15-editing-marys-outline/
Key Points: Inciting incident and tone need to be clear from the start. Make sure to include emotional cues. Don't forget the characterization! What defines the character? Make sure the reader knows the starting state (establishing shot!). Decision Point! What is the problem for the book, and decide to overcome it. Readers should be able to pronounce names and tell them apart. Visual cues can help. If characters change their minds, make sure something leads them to it. Escalate! Don't let the Monkey King take over. Make sure characters have conflicts, problems, skills, and flaws that show us who they are. Make sure your outline highlights the plot elements, the progression, the problems being worked through, and the conflicts -- not eating fruit. Consider giving the readers the map (ala Dora the Explorer).
( A silhouette by any other name? )
[Mary] All right. I have a writing prompt for you. This started off as a retelling of a Chinese folktale. So, what I want you to do is I want you to take a folktale and retell it in the Dora the Explorer formula. So make it a quest story, and just go ahead and outline it for right now.
[Brandon] Okay. This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
Current Mood: slipping
Tags: act 1, act 2, character, conflict, decision, dora the explorer, emotional cues, escalation, inciting incident, names, plot, tone
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01:57 pm
[mbarker]
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Writing Excuses 7.14: Writing Excuses
Writing Excuses 7.14: Writing Excuses
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/04/01/writing-excuses-7-14-writing-excuses/
Good Reasons Not to be Writing: Writing is Hard! Relax first. You're not as good as Tolkien, and he spent 20 years worldbuilding. Don't forget cat vacuuming! Clean your keyboard. If you start, be willing to throw it away after writing a page of crap, and write it again. Many times. Give yourself a reward for rewriting that page! Consider taking a Walden Pond break. Or hide everything you write in a drawer (aka The Emily Dickinson Ploy). Set up a pulley and bucket! Or try the George RR Martin approach to fame, don't give the fans what they want, postpone! The thesaurus, notecards, and cats can help you explore the many arrangements of your first page. Try to catch sydlexia. Grow a beard! Research valid character voice by listening to all the audible.com samples of books read by famous actors. Don't forget to organize the results. Then choose which actors should play the characters in the book you aren't writing. Keep in touch with pop culture -- watch plenty of TV, keep up with the memes, definitely track YouTube. Consider hosting YouTube parties! Write your own rejection letters, give your internal editor some exercise. Collect Magic cards and other rewards to motivate yourself. Sort your books (and cards) by color. Invent some new letters, or a whole new alphabet. Try writing in second person omnipotent. Practice bomb threats.
( Apropos April Fools... )
[Brandon] Okay. This has been Writing Excuses. We've given you lots of excuses. You have no excuse to not write, now. I think.
[Mary] If not, come back to us and we can give you some more.
[Brandon] Thanks for listening.
[Howard] Please don't make a bomb.
Current Mood: popped
Tags: beards, cats, excuses, magic cards, memes, note cards, pop culture, rejection letters, rewards, rewrite, thesaurus, tv, vacuuming, voice, worldbuilding, youtube
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01:32 pm
[mbarker]
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Writing Excuses 7.13: Man-Versus-Nature
Writing Excuses 7.13: Man-Versus-Nature
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/03/25/writing-excuses-7-13-man-vs-nature/
Key Points: With man-versus-nature, you don't need a stereotropical evil overlord to threaten the whole world, you can just blow the sun up! Conflict highlights aspects of characters, and man-versus-nature, especially disasters, often highlights heroism. Often man-versus-nature forms the large scale plot, with smaller scale man-versus-man conflicts set against that. There are several types, such as mop-up after the catastrophe, let's prevent the catastrophe, and struggle to survive. For man-versus-nature, you need good worldbuilding, but you also need a compelling main character, someone that readers want to survive. To embellish the simple external plot arc of survival, give the character something to accomplish, something to care about outside themselves.
( Behind the flaming curtains... )
[Brandon] Okay. We're going to go ahead and give you your writing prompt. Your writing prompt is Jack Black is stranded on an alien planet, alone. We can blame Howard for this. And write a story about it.
[Howard] The challenge is, you need to write a story where we like Jack Black and want him to live.
[Brandon] Of course, don't actually use Jack Black. Use a gregarious type of character like him.
[Howard] Zach Galifianakis.
[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. You might have a few excuses following that, but go write anyway.
Current Mood: surviving
Tags: accomplish, catastrophe, character, conflict, evil overlord, heroism, man-versus-nature, survival, worldbuilding
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11:57 am
[mbarker]
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Writing Excuses 7.12: Writing the Omniscient Viewpoint
Writing Excuses 7.12: Writing the Omniscient Viewpoint
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/03/18/writing-excuses-7-12-writing-the-omniscient-viewpoint/
Key Points: Omniscient viewpoint, with a narrator who can see all the action and knows all the thoughts of the characters, is hard to get right, compared to limited and first-person. Readers don't expect it. Cinematic omniscient, or third person cinematic, uses a camera as a narrator. Another type is the storyteller, with someone telling you this story. This lets the narrator talk to the reader, while not necessarily letting the characters know. It's a good way to condense information. Another type is the occasional zoom-out, such as establishing shots. There is a distinction between narrators with a strong voice and neutral omniscient narrators. When writing omniscient, be careful of the temptation to indulge in world builders' infodumping. The main advantage of occasional zoom-outs is that you don't always have to have a character see everything. The final type of omniscient is pure omniscient, which may lead to head hopping if done wrong. It must be very clear who is thinking what, but this can be very strong. This kind of omniscient lets you dig deeply into several characters and cover a lot of information in a single scene.
( Ignore the man behind the curtains! )
[Brandon] Yeah. Give them writing prompts.
[Howard] Okay. I'm actually going to give two. Writing prompt number one. Stick a scene in between two third person limited scenes, where an omniscient narrator delivers information that isn't available to any of your POV characters. The second writing prompt is pull off this Jane Austen Sense and Sensibility thing. Have two characters carrying on a dialogue in which what is being communicated with the words is out of sync with what each of the characters is thinking.
[Brandon] Okay. Excellent. You are out of excuses. Thanks for listening. Now go write.
Current Mood: all-seeing
Tags: cinematic, establishing shots, head hopping, infodump, narrator, omniscient, storyteller, thoughts, viewpoint, world builder's disease
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